Etymologies

Examples

Another distinct feature of the flora of the Central European mixed forests is the presence of thermophilous plant species typical of warmer and drier habitats, particularly in the south-eastern part of the ecoregion, which borders the forest-steppe zone of Ukraine, Moldova and Romania.

Though dominated by mixed broadleaf and conifer forests, due to past glaciation, uniform topography, and proximity to Eastern European steppe, many boreal and thermophilous plant species can be found in the ecoregion.

In the rest of the region thermophilous plant species occur mostly in open and semi-open habitats created by traditional ways of land-use (grazing and burning), and are now largely threatened either by secondary forest succession or by ongoing afforestation works.

It includes sub-Mediterranean-subcontinental thermophilous bitter oak forests and sub-Mediterranean and meso-supra-Mediterranean downy oak forests of the Italian peninsula, not including the lower portions of the ‘boot’ of the peninsula (which are part of the Tyrrhenian-Adriatic sclerophyllous and mixed forests ecoregion).

Modifications and additions consist of including the hygro-thermophilous mixed deciduous broadleaf forests (and portions of swamp forests) in the eastern sections of the ecoregion as well as an area of the montane Black Sea unit in European Turkey.

It includes the eastern units of Iberian supra - and meso-Mediterranean Quercus pyrenaica as well as the southeastern units of the supra-Mediterranean and relict types of Mediterranean sclerophyllous forests and scrub (with small inclusions of subalpine and oro-Mediterranean vegetation and Iberian supra - and meso-Mediterranean thermophilous mixed deciduous broad-leaved forests) from Bohn et al. 2000.

The herbaceous layer normally includes many species that also characterize the moist conifer mountain forests, and some other endemic and more thermophilous taxa, such as Cyclamen africanum, Acanthus mollis, Gallium elipticum, Vicia atlantica, Saxifraga atlantica, and Myosotis collina.

The ecoregion includes the sub-Mediterranean subcontinental thermophilous bitter oak forests, montane to altimontane beech and mixed beech forests, and oro-Mediterranean pine forests of southern Italy south of Naples.